Larry A Borre (right) receives his ITA meritorious service award from "Tak" Tokugawa (left), of Nissan, and ITA president Jim Malvaso (centre), of Raymond.

by US correspondent Roger Renstrom

The Industrial Truck Association (ITA) has accorded full honours to Larry A Borre and Robert L Wuench at a banquet during the group's annual meeting in Rancho Mirage.

Borre was ITA president in 1998 and 1999 and Wuench in 2000 and 2001. A top executive representing each man's ITA member company, Nissan Forklift Corp North America for Borre and Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift America Inc for Wuench, presented them with cut glass eagle statues, ITA's meritorious service award.

During Borre's tenure and, in part, because of his extensive travel on behalf of the association, ITA and similar trade groups in Europe and Japan established the Alliance of Industrial Truck Organisations (AITO). The alliance enables top industry leaders to discuss items ranging from marketing statistics to international standards.

Under Borre, ITA established its website and conducted membership surveys dealing with advertising costs, leasing arrangements and the value of service parts. In addition, the US Occupational Safety & Health Administration began regulating forklift operator training.

Borre "devoted his entire career to prudent leadership resulting in continuous improvement of the materials handling marketplace", said David Baiocchi, president of JM Equipment Co Inc, of Modesto, California. Borre operated Barrett Industrial Trucks and continued with Nissan after Nissan acquired Barrett.

Robert L Wuench (left) receives his ITA meritorious service award from Hideaki Ninomyia (right), of MCFA, and ITA president Jim Malvaso (centre), of Raymond.

During Wuench's tenure as ITA president, the association undertook a major revision of its statistics software program, initiated near-total communications through email and the website, and successfully petitioned the American National Standards Institute to change its standard for off set loads.

ITA expanded contacts with sister associations in Europe and Asia by sponsoring activities during the Hannover Fair, completed arrangements under which members could use the ITA logo and inaugurated annual meeting format changes to allow greater time for networking between regular and associate members.